SCENES FROM INKCARCERATION 2026

For three days this past weekend, the crumbling cell blocks of the Ohio State Reformatory rang out with 65-plus bands as Inkcarceration returned to the Mansfield, Ohio prison that stood in for Shawshank onscreen. The festival's eighth edition filled the grounds with metalheads and more than 100 tattoo artists inking souvenirs a few steps from the stages.

Disturbed lit the fuse Friday, Bad Omens seized Saturday for their first Danny Wimmer festival headline, and Limp Bizkit sent everyone home Sunday, riding the South American stadium run that's put them back in every feed. In between, the bill swung from nu-metal nostalgia to full-bore deathcore: Gojira, Motionless in White, Papa Roach, Lorna Shore, Poppy, Lacuna Coil, Alien Ant Farm and the fittingly named Ice Nine Kills all turned in sets, Rev Theory reunited for a one-off, and risers like 156/Silence, Fox Lake and Cane Hill made their pitch to a new crowd.

Photo: Steve Thrasher